New York – A New York bankruptcy judge has rejected a legal challenge by Bernard Madoff’s victims over how they should be compensated.
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The investors in Mr. Madoff’s firm had argued that they are owed $64.8 billion reflected on fictitious account statements.
Judge Burton Lifland on Monday upheld a formula being used by trustee Irving Picard, who is overseeing the liquidation of Mr. Madoff’s assets.
The trustee has said claims should be based on how much money the victims actually invested, minus what they withdrew.
The 71-year-old Mr. Madoff was sentenced last year to 150 years in prison for orchestrating an epic Ponzi scheme that wiped out life savings and entire charities.
These fools that were parted with their money have some nerve asking for principal plus “profit.” They are lucky to be getting anything. That’s what a scheme is – you lose. It was their greed tha got them in trouble to begin with, buying into ol’ Bernie’s super-returns and the “kuvid” that went along with being a Madoff investor.
I agree with the judge on this – why should people get money based on phony info?
For a change a judge with common sense. These so called “Madoff Victims” want to be made whole for their foolishness and greed. Hopefully next time, they will excercise some due dillegence and be happy if they can make a modest return on legitimate investments.
The lawyer that convinced them he could win this one is the winner here
As heartbreaking the stories are, the judge is completely right. The returns are completely false. Just because a person thought they had more money, doesn’t make it the truth. If thinking one was rich would make it true, then every stock investor would be a billionaire.
The only fair way to deal with this problem is the one being used. No one got investment returns. Clawing back excessive cash, where possible and practical, also makes sense. It’s real chutzpah to insist on getting money you never really had.